The machine for which the present invention is particularly designed is one in which there is provided a single elongate boom which is suspended wholly from one end on a transportation vehicle and projects out over a crop for dispensing the materials onto the crop. The boom can extend for a long distance up to 120 feet or more so as to allow the vehicle to be transported on one side only of the crop area and to apply the materials over a wide band of the crop. Such machines are particularly designed for intensive farming situations such as cranberries or house plants, although of course other crops may be handled using the proposed machine.
This type of single very long boom is generally not used in less intensive farming in which the crop is evenly spread over a whole field since such vehicles generally use a double sided boom of shorter length to allow increased transportation speeds and to avoid the necessity for dedicated tracks between the farming areas.
Conventionally machines of this general type include a vehicle or trailer on which is mounted a central support section including a tower. A boom is suspended out to one side and is carried by a plurality of cables which extend from the tower downwardly and outwardly to connect to the boom structure at spaced positions along the length of the boom structure. Such a vehicle is very unwieldy and difficult to maneuver since it is relatively high. The machine is therefore very difficult to transport from one area to another.
In addition in order to limit the size of the machine, a counterweight is placed on the central vehicle to counter the weight of the boom and is placed closely into the vehicle and therefore is a very heavy weight thus increasing the total weight of the vehicle.
Yet further, the boom must be suspended so it can pivot relative to the central vehicle to accommodate tilting movement of the vehicle as it moves across the ground while, as far as possible, maintaining the boom at a constant height from the ground along its length. The pivoting arrangement of the conventional vehicles is generally unsatisfactory leading to excessive changes in height of the boom relative to the ground which can significantly interfere with the spread pattern or the material to be distributed.